Caleb Vigilant

by Brian Godawa

  Chapter 32

  Caleb was having a difficult time reading Rahab’s treaty because he could not get the image of her out of his mind. He had tried not to look at her because of his desire to be pure in his heart before Yahweh. But the few looks that he did get of her were burned into his mind like a branding iron.

  And it was not just her looks either. When she was close to him, he could smell her scent, and when she turned, her hair brushed over him. He felt a shudder go through his body at the touch of her hand returning the pouch. She was like a heavenly vision that made all his senses come alive. And it had been some time since that had happened. He had been committed to never uniting with a woman again since his wife had died so many years ago.

  As he read over Rahab’s scrupulously detailed and enumerated rights, he smiled at her industriousness. But he also felt himself strongly attracted to her like a moth to a flaming torch and he felt stupid for it—weak. Was he just like every other man in that establishment, drooling in complete vulnerability to an immoral unclean prostitute? Was he too, just a prisoner to his senses?

  Yet there was something different about her. Something strangely pure. He could not put his finger on it because it seemed so counter-intuitive. But when she had looked into his eyes, he saw a passionate soul like his own. A zest for life and a strong will in submission to Yahweh. He considered himself unclean for thinking of it but he almost felt that she had released herself in submission to him at that very moment.

  He shook it out of his head. It was probably because she was used to being a tool of men’s desires and no longer had an identity of her own. A destroyed soul.

  He was interrupted in his thoughts by Rahab’s arrival in his room.

  “Caleb, come quickly.”

  He followed her into her room where he found a strangely relaxed and smiling Salmon. Suddenly a jealousy swept over Caleb.

  But he could not bother with such silliness in this moment.

  She rushed them over to the balcony.

  “The Commander’s men are on their way here. They are looking for you.”

  “How did they know?” asked Caleb.

  She said, “They have spies in the tavern looking out for spies.”

  Salmon said with a smirk, “Did they spy us spies?”

  Caleb shot him a dirty look. “Now is not the time for frivolity.”

  “Sorry.”

  Then, Caleb added with a glance at Rahab, “or to gloat in your sin.”

  Rahab looked back at Caleb with anger. She had a lot to figure out about these Habiru and their peculiar ways.

  She led them up to the roof where she had stored a pile of flax for cloth making.

  “Here,” she said. “Hide under these. I will tell the men you have already gone.”

  Caleb grabbed her arm. “How can we trust you will not give us up?”

  She returned, “How can I trust that you will not give me up?”

  He pulled out her treaty and handed it to her. She looked at it. It was signed. She grinned.

  Salmon was still watching her with ogling eyes.

  “Now hide yourselves. There is not much time.”

  She left them and rushed downstairs to settle herself in the tavern as if she had been there all along.

  Salmon watched her go.

  Caleb said, “Hurry up, Salmon.”

  He turned to Caleb. “Is she not amazing? Oh, Caleb, wait until I tell you what she did to me. I cannot beli—”

  Caleb interrupted him, “Salmon, I would prefer you did not.”

  When Jebir had left Rahab’s tavern, he had intended to make his way directly to the Commander Alyun’s quarters and alert him to the presence of spies. But because of his lust for Rahab, he was conflicted, so he walked through the streets of the city reevaluating his options. It was the law that an innkeeper who harbored or aided spies would be executed. It happened too often in these lands.

  But he could not bring himself to be the messenger of death for the most arrestingly beautiful woman on the face of the earth. He desired her with much pain.

  Until he realized that he would lose his own head if the Commander ever found out.

  So self-preservation won out over self-gratification and Jebir found himself just before dark giving Alyun the news.

  When Jebir arrived at the tavern with his company of ten soldiers, he found Rahab cleaning up at the counter where she poured the beer and wine.

  “Rahab, where are the travelers with whom you spoke earlier this evening? Bring them out to me.”

  “Which travelers?” she asked with an impatient look. “I have had twenty new travelers today, as I do every day from all over the land.”

  “The Habiru,” he said. And then with jealous grit, he added, “The ones you brought up to your own room.”

  “So those were Habiru?” she said with feigned shock. “They never told me. They were very private. Would not tell me anything, though I tried to—suck it out of them.”

  She was taunting him.

  “Which rooms are they in?”

  “Oh, they have already left through the city gate before it closed at dark. I do not know where they went. But I can tell you one thing I know about them. They knew how to pleasure a woman.”

  She threw in that last line just to distract Jebir with more anger. She knew he had a crush on her and she knew she could use that to her advantage one day.

  That day had finally arrived.

  “It was not but an hour ago. If you hurry, you might catch them. If they are Habiru as you say, then would they not be going to cross the Jordan?”

  Jebir looked hard into Rahab’s eyes. He wanted to see if she was lying, but he could not tell.

  He turned to his men. “Check all the rooms before we leave.” And then added as an afterthought, “And the roof.”

  A pang of fear rushed over Rahab. She tried to hide it.

  The men checked the rooms. Jebir ended up with two of them on the roof of Rahab’s inn.

  There was nothing there but a big pile of flax.

  Jebir looked at the stalks lying in order. It was too orderly.

  He nodded to the two soldiers.

  They pulled their swords and walked over to the stalks.

  And then both of them thrust their swords into the piles to seek out anyone hiding underneath. They jabbed around the whole stacks to make sure they did not miss any possible fugitive hiding out.

  But there was no one there.

  “Let us go,” said Jebir. We will follow the path to the Jordan.”

  And they left.

  In their focus on the flax stalks, they had failed to consider checking the edge of the roof, where Caleb and Salmon hung by their fingertips over the edge fifty feet up in the air.

  They had originally been hiding under the flax. But Caleb made a last second change of plans and they slid over the side of the building.

  They pulled themselves up.

  They met Rahab back in her room.

  “Thank Yahweh they did not find you,” she said.

  Caleb said, “Can we go through the gate?”

  She said, “No, It is closed for the evening. Besides, everyone would see you. I have a better idea.”

  She moved over to a basket by her window and opened it. She pulled out a long rope died scarlet red.

  “What is that for?” asked Caleb.

  She said, “Well, as you now know, I am always well prepared for contingencies. I have had to be in my life.”

  She took the rope and hung it outside the window against the wall.

  “Why is it red?” asked Salmon.

  “To throw off suspicion. If anyone should come upon it for any reason, they would consider it some kind of decoration, similar to the red banner that marks this inn as a house of pleasure.”

  “You are cunning,” said Caleb.

  “If you only knew what I have been through,” she said.

  Caleb said, “When we arrive at the city, tie this cord outside your window so the tr
oops will know where you are and will pass over your household.”

  “You are cunning yourself,” she replied.

  He said, “But if any of your household venture out of this building, their blood will be on their own heads.”

  She countered, “And if any of your men lay a hand on any of my household within this building, our blood will be on your heads.”

  “Fair enough,” he said. But he would not be outdone. “But if you reveal our plans to anyone, then we are released from this treaty on all counts.”

  She deferred, “According to your words, so be it. Now make sure you go into the hills for three days until they return before you set off for the Jordan.”

  Salmon said, “I will be back for you, Rahab.”

  She rolled her eyes and said, “That is what they all say, Salmon. Now get going.”

  Chapter 33

  The Son of Man stood before the throne of witnesses and began his legal defense of Yahweh’s Wars. Mikael waited impatiently in his place, knowing that he was needed by Israel as soon as they could get this ridiculous restraining order thrown out of court.

  Unlike the satan, the Son of Man would follow protocol and properly give honor to the Judge of all things.

  “Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Yahweh, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh? Who among the gods is like Yahweh, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? O Yahweh Elohim of hosts, the heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. You have taken your place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods you hold judgment.”

  The satan muttered under his breath to his fellow litigants, “Fecal-nosed god licker.”

  The Son of Man then took his own turn around the dais to give his delivery some movement. But he was careful not to take the bait and respond to the satan’s pompous bloviating with his own in kind. Enoch had learned this lesson at the Eden trial where his pride got the better of him and he almost lost the case, had it not been for the Son of Man who came and rescued the verdict with victory.

  The Son of Man’s delivery was passionate yet professional. He decided to begin with restating the charges that were lost in the emotional vomit of manipulative rhetoric used by the satan.

  “Do the Israelites have the right to dispossess the land of Canaan from its inhabitants? Are the Wars of Yahweh just or unjust? That is the question before us today in this court. And we will prove that the plaintiff’s charges are prejudicial and frivolous; his arguments fallacious and without legal or moral merit.”

  Mikael could hear the reaction of the litigants’ scoffing mockery and ridicule under their breaths. They were Sons of God, divine heavenly beings, and yet in this courtroom they acted like snide sophomoric juveniles. It was despicable.

  The Son of Man continued, “First, regarding the prosecutor’s accusation of imperialism, I think a definition of terms is in order here. Imperialism is defined as an act of empire asserting authority over dependent states. You have no argument from the defense on that count, since Yahweh Elohim is the emperor of the heavens and the earth and he does as he pleases. So, yes, he is the imperial authority and his acts are indeed imperial and all humanity are his subjects. Duly noted. And without moral condemnation.”

  “Which brings us to the only charge with legal merit in this case: The covenant documented between our sovereign emperor and the Bene Elohim. Did Yahweh break his covenant promise to the Sons of God? I submit to you that if you consider the wording of the document you will notice that at no time did Yahweh forfeit his absolute ownership and therefore authority over any land. The earth is Yahweh’s and the fullness thereof. The world and those who dwell therein. In his allotment of the nations and their boundaries to the Sons of God he did not sign over the deed of absolute ownership. He is a landlord who has loaned the inhabitants the land. Simply put, the Sons of God and those under their authority are renters, not owners. The land has always remained Yahweh’s to distribute as he wills, when he wills. He is after all, as we already established, the emperor.”

  He paused to change course. “But even so, his dispossession is not an arbitrary act of power. It is rooted in a moral and legal failure of the gods to fulfill their responsibility to the covenant, thus rendering the covenant null and void.”

  The Watcher gods huffed again with contempt.

  The Son of Man turned to them and prophesied, “How long will you judge unjustly, O gods, and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. You have neither knowledge nor understanding, you walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, ‘You are gods, sons of El Elyon the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!’”

  Again, the plaintiffs rolled their eyes, muttered curses under their breaths, and made theatrical faces of disgust that made Mikael wonder how great was the gracious patience of Yahweh that he did not simply annihilate them in his presence.

  The Son of Man continued, “What does the claim of victimhood, the protest of grievance, and the accusation of oppression tell us of the litigants, when they are made against the Creator and owner of the universe? Very simply, that they define everything against their own wills as oppressive and unfair, because they are the oppressors, they are the despots, they are the tyrants—every last one of them.”

  The hubbub grew loud now from the plaintiff’s corner. The satan spoke up, “I object. Counsel has complained about me engaging in ad hominem attacks and yet that is exactly what he is doing now.”

  The Son of Man addressed Yahweh, “Your honor, I am merely proving that the plaintiff’s claims are actually expressions of his own guilt.”

  Yahweh Elohim said to the satan, “Overruled.”

  The satan sat down, but not without grumbling, “I am outraged and personally offended.”

  The Son of Man moved on. “Now regarding the accusations of anger and wrath unbefitting the Creator and Judge, let me just say this: It is not the god who punishes that is cruel and wicked, but the god who does not. Because the so-called “god of love” who does not pay recompense on the evildoer multiplies and extends the suffering of the victim which multiplies and extends injustice. Compassion to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. The god who does not punish evil is the god who inflicts evil.”

  The Son of Man took a pause to prepare mentally for his next launch. “Now in reference to that punishment of ‘innocent’ Canaanites and the law of herem, or devotion to destruction, I have a series of points to address.”

  “First, Yahweh is the creator and sustainer of every living thing. He gives life and he takes it away, blessed is the name of Yahweh. He owes no man, woman, or child anything. So who can complain when something they do not own is taken from them by the one who owns it? And he takes it when he wills.

  But I find it a bit of an oddity that the satan would argue that the actions of Yahweh toward women and children are cruel, when the Canaanites themselves kill women and children, and the gods of Canaan enslave women as property and sacrifice their children on altars of blood.”

  “I object!” interrupted the satan. “The Canaanite gods are not on trial, Yahweh is!”

  The Son of Man said, “Yes, the Canaanite gods are not on trial, because they have already been judged as unjust idols worthy of execution and their land to be confiscated as criminal property. But since the prosecution is charging the Creator with crimes against humanity, it is only fitting that their witness be disclosed as not credible in light of their own criminal behavior.”

  Yahweh announced to the satan, “Objection overruled. My Law states that a plaintiff may not be guilty of the crime of which they are a witness against a d
efendant.”

  “But your honor,” said the satan with a slithering sarcasm, “We do not kill every man, woman, and child like you do.”

  The Son of Man said, “You know full well the herem is standard military hyperbole used by all Near Eastern nations.”

  The concept of herem meant complete spiritual victory or triumph over the opponent. Most non-combatants who lived around cities were not generally touched and were allowed to escape to other towns not under the herem. Only those who stayed in solidarity with the city were under its judgment and were annihilated.

  The Son of Man added, “But regarding women’s innocence, we have already seen with the Midianite seduction, women may act in ways unlike warriors, but just as evil.”

  The Son of Man moved on again. “And this brings me to the fallacy of innocence asserted over and over again by the prosecution. Are the Canaanites really innocent? Is Israel a barbaric xenophobic oppressor who is engaging in racist hate crimes against innocent victims? Or is that just another manipulation of emotional hate rhetoric from a barbaric xenophobic oppressor himself who seeks to engage in racist hate crimes against Israel?”

  “The fact of the matter is the Canaanites are not innocent. The wrath of Yahweh falls justly on them because they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. For Yahweh has made himself known through his creation and in the consciences of all men, so that they are without excuse. For even though the Canaanites knew Yahweh, they did not honor him as their Creator nor did they give him thanks, but their wicked and foolish hearts were blackened with evil and they exchanged the truth of Yahweh for their lies. They turned and worshiped creation in place of the Creator. So Yahweh gave them up to their depravity to dishonor their bodies and defile themselves with shameless unnatural acts of sexuality, idolatry and rebellion that they engage in to this day. And even though they know the law of God and that such things are punishable by death, they nevertheless rejoice in their evil and heartily encourage others to do so as well.”

  The Son of Man paused again for a conclusive punch. “So you see, the devotion to destruction of herem is not based on racial prejudice at all. It is based on criminal religious behavior. This is not ethnic cleansing, it is evil cleansing. But even then, Yahweh offers grace. If anyone repents from their idolatry, they will be accepted into the congregation of Israel. Yahweh has even provided laws protecting the alien and the sojourner who live amidst his people.”